Theme park or amusement park ride attractions have become increasingly popular. In some cases, gate systems are used to control crowd flow and access to such attractions. Some gate systems may include gates that are manually opened and closed by a guest or operator, and some gate systems may employ actuators (e.g., hydraulic actuators) as power sources to generate a force to open and close the gates. In some cases, the actuators that control the gates may be large and/or there may be high force requirements for holding the gates in certain positions (e.g., open, closed, or partially open) and/or actuating the gates (e.g., opening and closing), for example.